


Firecracker

by Slashisproblematic



Series: Find You [3]
Category: Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe
Genre: Developing Relationship, M/M, Modern AU, Older Man/Younger Man, axl is twenty three while nikki is in his fifties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21515461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slashisproblematic/pseuds/Slashisproblematic
Summary: Axl takes Nikki out on a date after a show.
Relationships: Axl Rose/Nikki Sixx
Series: Find You [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1417465
Comments: 9
Kudos: 30





	Firecracker

**Author's Note:**

> Took a bit, but I figured it was time to finish it up and post.

“That was one of the best shows we played!” Steven exclaimed, bouncing around on the balls of his feet. Slash continued to chase down to the bottom of a bottle of Jack. 

Izzy and Duff already moved out to the bar in the small venue, leaving Axl with the Dodo brothers in the cramped dressing room. This place also doubled as some sort of storage room, meaning there were boxes piled everywhere, taking up even more space. Axl sat in front of the mirror trying to quickly brush the sticky hairspray out of his hair. 

“What was different about tonight, Axl?” Slash asked. Both him and Steven were lounging around, not immediately leaving to go find girls to go home with. It started to grate on Axl’s nerves.

“What do you mean?” Axl asked, playing stupid. 

“Dude, you were dancing like a stripper tonight!” Steven exclaimed. 

Axl focused on ramming his brush through a particularly stubborn chunk of hair. So he might have gotten a bit out of control tonight. He always rubbed himself against the guys as a way of working the crowd. Hell, the girls went crazy when he once gave Slash a quick kiss on the cheek. But tonight he went all out, rubbing his hands on his body, getting really sensual with Slash and Izzy. 

Once his hair shined and fell down his shoulders completely straight, Axl grabbed a wipe to clean his face of his makeup. 

“I just felt like it tonight,” Axl lied. 

Slash snorted. “Trying to impress someone?” he asked. 

“Was it the goth girl in the front?” Steven asked with a tint of worry.

Axl crumbled up the makeup wipe and threw it in the trash. 

“Aren’t you guys heading out?” he said, not wanting to betray how much Slash was on the mark. 

“We’re waiting for you,” Steven replied. He sat on one of the boxes, his legs swinging around childishly. 

“I’m heading home tonight,” Axl said curtly. “You guys go ahead.” 

Slash and Steven exchanged a look before the guitarist shrugged and stood up. 

“Okay, man. Just figured you wanted to get to know the girls out in the crowd tonight.” He left, his half-empty Jack dangling from his hand. 

Steven was a little more hesitant. 

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked. Axl waved his hand. 

“Yep, just a headache, you guys go have fun.” 

“I mean, if it’s just a headache, I got some pills, I don’t want you to miss-” he caught Axl’s glare in the mirror. “Uh, okay, if that’s what you want.” The blond drummer quickly raced out of there. 

Axl sighed. Steven liked to pride himself on always looking out for his friends, but didn’t know when to let something drop, which tended to trigger Axl’s temper. 

But Slash was right, Axl was trying to impress someone out in the crowd, even if he didn’t really need to. 

His phone buzzed. Axl quickly checked the notification, seeing that it was a text from Nikki. 

_‘I’m over by the door, are you coming out soon?’_

Axl smirked and sent a quick confirmation. He left the dressing room after quickly changing his shirt and putting on his denim jacket. He still wore the same skinny jeans and boots he had on stage. 

Out in the crowd, there was no sign of Slash and Steven. He spotted Izzy and Duff over by the merchandise stands, mingling. Part of him thought that he should at least tell Izzy that he was leaving, but he didn’t want to leave Nikki waiting. He quickly decided that he could send Izzy a quick text if he needed to. 

He stepped outside and found Nikki relaxing against the wall right next to the door. He dressed down, finally, trading his high-end suit for jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket, still keeping the sunglasses and the bandanna.

Nikki looked up and smiled as he saw Axl approach, pushing away from the wall and wrapping his arm around Axl’s shoulders. Over the last month, Nikki has been getting a little better about public displays of affection. Axl once tried to kiss him outside as they were leaving a restaurant. Nikki reared back like he’d been burned. It stung, but the way Nikki quickly looked around told Axl that he wasn’t the problem.

“What’d you think?” Axl asked. 

“Fucking amazing, babe.” He rubbed Axl’s shoulder affectionately, the extent of the PDA Nikki will show him. Still, the touch sent an electrical current running through Axl’s body. 

“Yeah?” Axl smiled. Nikki picked his hand up to run it through Axl’s hair. 

“You’re a fucking knockout. The other guys in your band are pretty good, too.” 

Axl quickly looked inside the door, worried that someone might look out and see them. 

“They’re going to stay for the headliner,” Axl said. “But there’s someplace I wanted to take you.” 

Nikki tilted his head, intrigued, thankfully not pushing the issue any further. Not that Axl was embarrassed by their relationship, he just needed to figure out how to navigate introducing his much older boyfriend to his friends without being forced to explain every aspect of it. Axl had a feeling Nikki felt the same way too. He wasn’t exactly jumping at the chance to introduce Axl to his friends either. 

“So where are we going?” Nikki asked as Axl looped his elbow with his, leading down the sidewalk. 

“A bar,” Axl replied simply. “But not for drinks, the place also has great food.” He and Izzy discovered the place while trying to satiate their 3am munchies. A return trip while sober showed him that it wasn’t just the weed making the food taste good. 

“So be honest,” Axl said as they walked. “You’re not saying we were great just because of me, right?” 

Nikki quickly leaned forward so that his lips brushed against Axl’s ear. 

“If I dwell on watching you, we’ll have to cut this date short and go back to my apartment,” he husked, causing Axl to shiver. 

“Food first,” he said. He felt his stomach growl, feeling like it was trying to eat its way out. And for once Axl had the money to treat Nikki, instead of the other way around. 

“But you want to know what I think about the music?” Nikki asked when he pulled back. “Like I said before, it’s kick-ass. Little rough, sure, but you guys are still young, you have time.” 

Axl gently pulled Nikki towards the right direction, after realizing that they almost passed their destination. It was a little out of the way, with just a small sign in front of a set of stairs indicating where it is. One of those places that got around via word of mouth than advertising. 

“If there’s one thing I could comment on,” Nikki said as they descended the stairs. “Your guys’ style seems a little inconsistent.” They stopped in front of the door. Axl could hear the bass from the music pounding against it. 

Axl nodded. “We’ve been trying to find something that works for us. The glam-punk image was Duff’s idea.” 

Nikki briefly brushed his fingers through Axl’s hair. 

“You don’t need to do anything with your hair,” Nikki said softly. “Leave the huge hairstyles back in the 80s.” 

Axl grimaced. If there was one complaint he had about his stage attire, it was his hair that he tried teasing up. But fighting with his hair was a bitch on good days; instead of awesome, rocking hair, his hair just raised up slightly before the ends limped down pathetically. Hence why he made sure to comb out his hair before seeing Nikki. It was embarrassing enough that Nikki saw him onstage like that. 

“All right,” Axl said. Nikki opened the door, holding it open for Axl, and they went inside the bar. It gave off the vibe of a leather biker bar, with the dim lighting, wood paneling, and the overly muscular bartender. Clashing with that image was a brand new jukebox, the kind with a touch screen and wifi, and a back room filled with arcade games. 

Axl claimed a booth near the back, which was out of sight from most of the bar and would give them the most privacy. Nikki grabbed the laminate display that listed the menu, taking off his sunglasses and bringing it close to his face to read it. 

At that moment, Axl realized that maybe someone Nikki’s age might be watching what they eat. The restaurants that Nikki took him to tended to be higher-end fare. Not exactly the kind of places to serve deep-fried bar food.

He cleared his throat. “There’s this fruit salad thing,” he said, even though that didn’t sound too filling. Axl planned to buy them something to share, and only eating some fruit when he was exhausted and starving after a show…

Nikki shook his head. “The mozzarella cheese sticks sound good.” Axl sighed with relief. 

The waitress came around and Axl put in the order for a large plate of cheese sticks, ignoring Nikki’s raised brow. But Axl was paying tonight, he’ll make it happen even if he has to throw Nikki’s wallet out the window. 

Axl ordered a jack and coke too, with Nikki just getting a Sprite. Now that Axl thought about it, Nikki never drank, even the whiskey he ordered back when they met was left untouched. Not to mention, if Axl went for more than a couple of drinks around Nikki, the older man got this look on his face, like he wasn’t happy but not about to say anything about it. 

But that didn’t matter. Once the food arrived, Axl only had one thing on his mind. 

“Jesus,” Nikki said in half-awe, half-amusement. “I’d reach in and get more, but I’d think I’d lose a finger.”

Within half an hour, Axl devoured most of the large serving of mozzarella sticks, meant for a group of six. Nikki managed to get just a few, with a half-eaten one still on his plate.

Axl smirked. “If you wanted more, you should have said something,” he said. 

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Nikki replied. “After that show you were probably starving.”

The redhead swirled his last cheese stick through the remnants of the marinara sauce. 

“Yeah, my appetite’s been in overdrive,” he said. Despite the huge serving he just ate, it felt like his hunger was only placated, and that he knew he’d be feeling peckish in just a couple of hours. But maybe that was just his body crying out for something more nutritious than a cheesy snack.

“Are you coming of off something?” Nikki asked. He hit the nail so hard on the head that Axl involuntarily froze in the middle of taking a bite. 

No use playing coy with someone who probably took every drug in existence back in the eighties. But Axl’s silence was enough of an admission for Nikki. The older man frowned, pressing his lips together. 

“What was it, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Axl took his time chewing before finally ripping the bandage off. 

“I quit heroin a few months back,” Axl admitted. 

Of course, Nikki wasn’t judgmental. But it was hard to read what he was feeling when he still wore those sunglasses. He merely pursed his lips and nodded.

“I only shot up a couple of times,” Axl said. “After that, I just didn’t want to do it anymore.”

“Shit,” Nikki finally said. “You got to the point where you were shooting up and you just decided to stop?” 

Axl looked down, hoping that Nikki wasn’t reading ‘Look how easy it was!’ off of him, well aware that it was a huge point of contention whenever he got on the rest of the band whenever they started using harder drugs. 

“I wanted to stop before it got really bad,” Axl said. “It just made me sick, you know?” 

Nikki nodded. “I know. Wasn’t enough to get me to quit.”

Axl picked up his half empty jack and coke and took a drink. 

“You’re alive and sober now,” he said. He finished off his drink and went for the glass of water the waitress left on the table.

Nikki smiled wryly. “Sometimes I’m not so sure. Maybe I’ve been dead the whole time.” 

“Don’t think dead guys can get it up,” Axl said. His mouth hydrated, he scooted across the booth seat and closer to Nikki. 

He went to kiss Nikki on the cheek, and surprisingly, Nikki turned and captured Axl’s lips in a heated kiss. He grabbed Axl’s face and slipped his tongue in. Fuck. Axl wasn’t about to complain about Nikki suddenly being okay with PDA. 

A familiar song started up on the bar’s speakers, a guitar opening that sounded like a motorcycle, causing Nikki to pull back and look up. 

“Well, fuck.” 

“Sound familiar?” Axl asked. It certainly had the 80s metal vibe. Nikki snorted. 

“Of course it does.” Nikki gave Axl a look. 

“Yeah, it was big in the 80s?” Though Axl last heard that song in a truck commercial or something. 

“It was one of _our_ biggest hits.” 

Axl scrunched his eyebrows for a few seconds before the realization hits. 

“Oh. _Oh_.” 

Nikki burst out laughing. Axl flushed, though he thought to himself that he should be more relieved than embarrassed that Nikki thought it was amusing. 

“Babe,” Nikki said, still chuckling. “You just took me on my word that I used to be a rock star? Never thought to look me up?”

Axl crossed his arms. 

“Well, what was I supposed to do?” he snapped. “Look up ‘Nikki 80s rock star?’” 

“I’m pretty sure Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue is the first result you would get.” 

“Wait, you were in Motley Crue?” Axl asked. Nikki started to laugh again and Axl felt like the world’s biggest idiot. Of course he’s heard about Motley Crue, but they were one of those bands that everyone’s heard of but didn’t bother learning the names. Fuck. Axl actually remembered seeing a Motley Crue poster hanging up in a used record store; four guys, one platinum blond, three with black hair all posing and mugging ridiculously for the camera. 

“I’m glad you find this so amusing,” Axl said as Nikki took off his sunglasses to rub at his watering eyes. “I was taking you at your word, you know. It wouldn’t be fair that I could just look up your name and find out a whole bunch of stuff about you. Can’t exactly do the same to me.” 

Nikki still smiled fondly at Axl. He scratched at his beard thoughtfully. 

“I could always hire a private investigator,” he said. 

He was obviously joking, but Axl narrowed his eyes nonetheless. 

“You better not, Sixx.” He doubted that Nikki would care about anything that he dug up. But some things he just wanted to stay in the past. 

“All right, babe,” Nikki conceded. “Fair’s fair.”

“I’m gonna go choose the next song,” Axl said. “I want to listen to Queen.”

Nikki tilted his head slightly. “Wait, seriously?” he asked. 

Axl rolled his eyes. People can call his taste in music ‘suburban mom rock’ all they want. Freddie Mercury was a legend. 

He quickly kissed Nikki before sliding out of the booth to the jukebox. Supposedly, Axl could download an app and pay to request a song remotely, but he hardly ever had the patience for that. At least the machine still had a slot for cold, hard cash. 

As he flicked through the options on the jukebox, he could feel someone staring at him. He flicked his eyes up to confirm his feeling, finding a guy watching from a nearby table. Axl immediately turned his attention back to the jukebox, but unfortunately this asshole thought that a half-second of eye contact was an invitation. He pointedly kept his eyes focused on the screen as he heard a chair scoot back and footsteps approaching him. 

“Hey.” The guy leaned into Axl’s space, forcing the redhead to lean back. 

“Do you fucking mind?” Axl said. The guy’s breath smelled like beer. Charming. 

The drunk guy only smiled like Axl was a puppy that just did something cute. 

“Oh, c’mon,” he said. “Don’t be like that. I’d like to buy you a drink.”

“No.” 

Drunk guy looked shocked at Axl’s sharp reply. Probably used to ignoring a bunch of polite, indirect ‘No’s until his target found an excuse to ditch him. Whatever. 

Naturally, the guy was offended. 

“You don’t think you’re being kind of shallow? You hardly know me.” Drunk Guy narrowed his eyes, like that would convince Axl to change his mind. 

Not wanting to spend another second lingering by the jukebox, Axl quickly selected the first song that popped up for Queen, Fat Bottomed Girls. He turned to walk away when he felt a hand grip his arm. 

Axl yanked his arm away and glared at the drunk idiot. In defense, the guy raised his hands up, palms out, in a ‘surrender’ gesture. 

“I’m just trying to be friendly, you stuck up bitch.”

Axl curled his fist and took a step forward. 

Somebody wrapped their hand around his arm, and Axl nearly tore out of their grasp to feed this drunk idiot his own teeth. He barely stopped when he saw that it was Nikki. 

“Everything all right?” Nikki asked. 

Axl didn’t answer, but silently resented Nikki for thinking that he needed someone to come save him.

Nikki’s arm slid back up around Axl’s shoulders.

“Come on, babe.” 

But Drunk Guy wouldn’t quit. 

“So is that how it is?” he slurred. The implication was not lost on either Axl or Nikki. 

“Watch it,” Nikki growled. Still, he continued to goad Axl back to their table, muttering into his ear that the guy wasn’t worth it. 

“How much is he paying you, then?” Drunk Guy asked. 

That was the final straw. Axl yanked himself out of Nikki’s hold before punching the guy in the nose. No blood or anything, but he fell back and collapsed, either from the punch or from finally passing out drunk, Axl did not care. 

“Shit,” Nikki muttered. “Babe, why don’t you wait outside while I-” 

Axl broke away from him again to march up to the counter to pay for their food and drinks. Thankfully, the guy behind the counter regarded the whole scene with some sort of bemusement, like this happened frequently. He silently grabbed Axl’s card and ran it through. After signing the receipt, Axl left the bar without bothering to make sure Nikki was following him. 

He made outside and to the top of the stairs when Nikki’s voice caught him. 

“Axl?”

He stopped and waited for Nikki on the sidewalk, even though all he wanted to do was run out of there. 

Nikki stopped in front of him and placed a hand on Axl’s shoulder, causing him to flinch. 

Reluctantly withdrawing his hand, Nikki said, “Are you okay?” 

Axl huffed through his nose. 

“Yeah, fine. Didn’t need you to come in to save me like that.” God, he really wished Nikki wouldn’t pry in that ‘Worried Boyfriend’ kind of way. There was more to this than just a drunken fuck not handling rejection well. 

“Just wanted to get you out of there, before it escalated. Shits like him aren’t worth it.” 

Axl gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to comment on how Nikki made it sound like it was Axl’s fault it escalated. Or perhaps he was reading too much into something again. 

“I think I’ll just go home,” Axl said. He saw Nikki open his mouth to speak and cut him off before he could offer. “I can walk, you don’t need to drive me.” 

“Babe, don’t worry about it.” He placed his hands on Axl’s shoulders. He didn’t flinch this time. 

“Sucks that that fuckhead ruined our date,” Nikki continued. “But at least let me make sure you get home safe.” 

Axl sighed. 

“Fine. I just want to get home and go to sleep.” 

“That’s fine,” Nikki said. He led Axl to his car near the venue, the same one he drove the night they first met. 

Axl slunk against the door as Nikki drove, subconsciously trying to sit as far away from him as possible. He waited for Nikki to try and convince him to not end the date before the sex by saying something like ‘don’t let that asshole ruin everything’ or ‘maybe you can come relax at my place instead.’ 

When Nikki did speak, it was nothing like that. 

“If I was the same guy I was thirty years ago, I’d probably lay him out flat.” 

Axl huffed a laugh through his nostrils. 

“Really?” 

“Sure.” Nikki quickly gave Axl a reassuring smile. “I was constantly drugged out and looking for a fight. But I mean it when I say some shit’s not worth it.” They were quiet, leaving Axl alone with his thoughts until Nikki turned onto his street. 

Axl sat up. “Sorry, I had to trash our date like that,” he said. 

Nikki shrugged and said, “We can make up for it next time.” He pulled into the driveway, or rather, the patch of dirt in front of the house that they used as a driveway. 

He turned to Axl and gently cupped his face. Axl let him. 

“I’ll text you, alright?” Nikki said. 

Axl nodded. “How about next time we just go see a movie and make out in the back row?” 

Nikki smiled again, leaning forward to quickly kiss Axl before pulling back. 

Axl jumped out of the car and headed back into the house. He watched through the screen door as Nikki pulled out and drove off. He felt better than he did back at the bar, mostly because he was happy he didn’t wind up chasing Nikki away, though that was hardly the worst of his moods. 

Everyone should still be at the venue. The headlining act should just be wrapping up, but they were likely going to be out until at least four am. So Axl didn’t worry about waking anyone as he went towards the room he shared with Izzy. 

As he passed one of the doors in the hall, it suddenly swung open. Steven’s head popped out. 

“Whoa, Axl!” Steven said in awe. “Who was that driving the car?” 

Axl stared blankly at Steven for a few seconds before he ducked into his room without saying a word.


End file.
